


After the Leaves Have Fallen

by tosca1390



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-19
Updated: 2010-10-19
Packaged: 2017-10-14 15:56:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/150971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tosca1390/pseuds/tosca1390
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>She was too angry to Apparate, she just needed to run.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Leaves Have Fallen

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [](http://community.livejournal.com/hpgw_otp/profile)[**hpgw_otp**](http://community.livejournal.com/hpgw_otp/) [Halloween Challenge](http://community.livejournal.com/hpgw_otp/85155.html). Conditions: The fic had to start with the line _It was a dark and stormy night_ , be between 500-2000 words, and take place in the time between the end of the war and Harry and Ginny's marriage.

*

It was a dark and stormy night, the air wet and laced with smoky autumn. Ginny couldn’t see an arm’s length in front of her as she stalked her way down nearly empty sidewalks, skirting tiny little parks, her fists clenched so hard she could feel the indents of her nails into her palms, the hard ridge of her engagement ring cutting off the circulation of her ring finger.

“Ginny!”

“Bugger off!” she threw back over her shoulder, her cloak fluttering at her calves behind her.

“This is ridiculous!” Harry yelled from behind.

 _You’re ridiculous_ , she thought murderously, her heels clacking hard against the concrete. Her hair stuck damply to the back of her neck, her skin hot all over with anger and fire and the thick suffocation of her wool dress. She came to a halt at an intersection, tapping her foot, wondering how to weave in between all the cars and cabs, to put more distance between them.

“Ginny, stop!”

She couldn’t, though, she couldn’t stop because she couldn’t look at him or be near him or even think about him and them and the new flat they just rented together, how it had taken her _brother’s_ big mouth for Harry to finally own up to this ridiculous _thing_ —

On her toes, she sprinted out into the wet shiny road, hurrying along. She was too angry to Apparate, she just needed to run. His curses were lost behind her in the wind and the car horns, and she rushed the last few steps, breath coming short and hard in her chest, coming to a sharp stop on the opposite side of the road. Trees loomed tall and dark and ominous over the small park; she stared out into the darkness, watching, waiting.

She could hear hard heavy steps behind her and she started off again, walking hard and fast, arms wrapped tightly around her middle.

“Let me explain, please! Damnit, Ginny!”

“Nothing to explain _now_!” she shot back, whipping her head around. She wobbled hard on her heels with the sharp turn, and then—

In an instant, she found herself flush against the flat wet earth; the impact rattled through her bones and veins, echoing dully. Gasping hard, she coughed out rain water and dirt and shut her eyes against the twinges of pain settling in her bare kneecaps and ribs. The sky rumbled above her; she turned gingerly onto her back and breathed out, rain splattering against her skin, soaking into her now-ruined cloak, the hem of her dress. Leaves crunched beneath her and stuck themselves to her bare legs.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps near her, a hand on her elbow. “Are you all right?”

“Oh quit it,” she muttered, wrenching out of his grip.

Harry sighed heavily; then she heard a small thud. She opened her eyes and found him flopped on the ground next to her, eyes blazing. His fringe flopped damply into his eyes, his face lined heavily. “You just ran out,” he said roughly.

Shutting her eyes again, she curled her fingers into the wet grass, blades catching against her nails. “I didn’t want to make a scene in front of our friends.”

“So you’ve made a scene in public.”

“This isn’t a scene,” she retorted; nearby, the cars splashed on the road, kicking up a breeze. “What do you want me to say?”

“Nothing,” he said wearily. “Just listen.”

Ginny crossed her ankles, clasping her hands together tightly. She stared up at leafless trees, their branches curving over them like skeletal fingers, dripping wet. Shivers began running up and down her spine, the wet seeping into her skin and bones.

“It was a good tip, and it worried me. I wanted to make sure you were safe, that’s all. That’s all I’ve ever wanted,” he said earnestly.

Sitting up, she winced at the ache in her ribs, fixing him with a glare. “You should have told me about it, instead of making me feel crazy. I’ve been telling you for weeks that I thought people were following me around, and they’re Aurors? Your Aurors?”

Harry squarely met her gaze. “I didn’t want to worry you.”

Gritting her teeth, she shook her head violently. “You are not allowed to keep secrets from me, not like this. Not when they’re about _me_. I don’t care if Voldemort comes back from the dead and hunts me down—“

Grabbing her hands, he pulled her closer towards him, across the damp leaves, almost into his lap. His eyes were even greener in the rainy darkness, hard and fierce, like the first time they’d kissed nearly five years ago. “Don’t say that, it’s not something to kid about—“

“A few fans get a little too crazy, and you don’t tell me? Not only that, but you give me secret bodyguards? That’s not something to kid about either,” she said flatly. “Especially hearing it from Ron. I shouldn’t learn of these things from _Ron_ at a dinner party!”

His glasses were beginning to fog up from the rain. Water beaded along the line of his nose and mouth. “I’m sorry, Ginny. I just—I didn’t want—“

She tried to shake his hands from hers, to no avail, moments from the last few weeks at home filtering back, feeding the pit of anger in her stomach. “So it’s fine for you to walk around like a ghost, not speaking, not looking at me—I reckoned I’d done something wrong, or you’d changed your mind—“

Pulling her even closer, he tightened his grip on her hands. “How could you think that?” he asked roughly.

“How did you even find out about this? The team handles all the fan post—“ she stopped speaking abruptly, fixing him with a glare. “Do you watch the team and their people too?”

He made a deep, frustrated sound from the back of his throat. “Yes,” he said curtly. “Of course I do.”

Inhaling deeply, she silently counted to ten, because this was _Harry_ , of course he was going to be a daft idiot like that. “You cannot use your job to monitor me,” she said quietly. “Harry, you can’t expect us to live like that.”

They sat in damp silence for a long moment, with just the wind and whizzing cars passing by to fill the awkward space. The autumn chill settled between them, stealing into every crevice of her skin.

“I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely, his hands warm and damp and tight over hers. “But I have to keep you safe. You’re—Ginny, you’re it. You’re all I have.”

Something in her chest cracked at that, wide open and hot. She looked at him and saw the small boy she first knew tucked into the man he’d become. “It doesn’t have to be just you,” she said finally, curling her fingers into his. “Can’t we keep each other safe?”

He looked away then, his grip tightening on her hands. Shivering, she shifted closer to him, a wet squelching sound as her legs shifted in the wet grass. “We’re a team, you and me,” she said softly. “You’ve got to give me a little credit. I’m not sixteen years old, and you can’t lock me up in the Room of Requirement anymore.”

Leaning in abruptly, he kissed her, insistent and firm. She kept her eyes open through the rain and the breeze, returning the kiss hesitantly.

“I don’t want to lock you up,” he murmured.

A memory flashed hot in her mind, and she couldn’t help her smile. “Except for that one weekend in Dublin.”

His smile grew warm and wide against her lips. “That _was_ fun.”

She pulled away for a moment, brushing his wet fringe from his forehead. Her fingertips brushed his faded scar for just a moment. “Seriously, Harry. Are you really worried about these crazy people?”

Hesitating, he shook his head no. “We checked them out. They’re clean.”

She couldn’t help the shudder down her spine. “Okay. Good.”

“But there could be more out there,” he muttered.

Sighing, she shrugged. “There are always going to be crazy people, aren’t there? I play Quidditch, some people take it too seriously. The team has excellent security. And besides,” she added, glancing around them, “We’re a bit nuts ourselves.”

“We are sitting in the rain in the grass,” he said wryly, a small smile curving his mouth and changing his entire face.

She reached out and cupped his jaw in her hand, feeling the slight stubble of a day’s growth. “I mean it,” she said quietly. “We tell each other everything, or you’re taking this engagement ring back and I’m gone.”

Solemnly he nodded, kissing her again. “I’m sorry, Gin,” he murmured between the hot presses of his mouth.

“And call off your Aurors,” she added.

He ducked his head, looking a bit sheepish. “They’re not _my_ Aurors.”

“They will be soon enough,” she said softly, touching a new scar on the line of his jaw. He’d been in St. Mungo’s for two days after that outing and that curse; she hadn’t left his side. How many more times would she hold vigil for him, or him for her?

Wiping the lenses of his glasses, he caught her hand in his once more. “My trousers are ruined,” he said ruefully, thumb tracing her knuckles.

After a moment, she smiled slightly and levered herself to her feet. “My dress, too,” she said, tugging him up. “Another reason for you to stop being a prat.”

He pulled her in close, their clothes sticking wetly to each other and to their bodies. She pressed her face into his neck, breathing in rain and woods and his soap. Her fingers curled into his jacket as his hands settled at the small of her back, his mouth glancing along her brow. “No more being a prat. Got it,” he said quietly.

“Easier said than done,” she muttered. She could feel his chest rumble under her with a laugh, his grip tightening on her; now, in the rain and the dark, it was just the two of them, and everything was all right.

*


End file.
